The chapter opens with a description of the "unofficial" megastructure, which is connected to the "netsphere" by a series of elevators. The narrator explains that the elevator is not connected to an exit, but rather to a "drivable and converging system" . He asks if he can find any humans who have the net-terminal gene, and the narrator says that he did find one, but that it was a "dissipation call" and not a "remedy call." The narrator then goes on to explain that they have to find a way to "investigate the genetic information" from the "supreme" , and that the time to get there will be "at least 800 hours."